Disordered lead battery recycling faces challenges

China is the world's largest producer and exporter of lead storage batteries, but the recycling system for waste lead batteries is extremely imperfect. Recently, the reporter learned from the “China Waste Lead Batteries Recycling Management Status and Countermeasures” seminar held by the Environmental Protection and Environment Policy Research Center of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the International Environmental Protection Organization Natural Resources Protection Association. The number of waste lead batteries produced each year in China exceeds 2.6 million tons. However, the rate of regular recycling is less than 30%. Waste lead battery recycling industry is in a disorderly state. Nearly 80% of lead scrap batteries are still flowing into the recycling and processing links through individual traders. A large number of waste lead batteries are dismantled and dispose of at will, and the resulting environmental problems are increasingly serious.

Less than 30% of regular lead-acid battery recycling rate

Over the past 10 years, China's lead storage battery industry has grown rapidly, and is the world’s largest lead battery producer and exporter. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the lead battery production in 2012 reached 178.463 million kVA h, an increase of 27% from 2011.

According to a study report released by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Environment Policy Research Center and the Natural Resources Protection Association, "China's Lead-acid Battery Recycling Management Status and Countermeasures", China is also a major consumer of lead-acid batteries, and lead-acid batteries are widely used in transportation, communications, power, and railways. In industries such as automotive start-up batteries, power batteries for electric bicycles, and backup power supplies, they account for about 90% of total consumption. The number of lead spent batteries is also very alarming. The annual number of lead spent batteries produced exceeds 2.6 million tons.

The "Comprehensive Prevention Plan for Heavy Metal Pollution in the Battery Industry (Draft for Soliciting Opinions)" promulgated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in 2010 shows that at present, the organized recycling rate of used lead-acid batteries in developed countries such as Europe, the United States, and Japan has exceeded 90%, and China has organized The recovery rate is less than 30%. At present, there is no national and regional recycling network built by battery manufacturers or recycled lead manufacturers in China.

Cao Guoqing, deputy secretary-general of the China Battery Industry Association, said that the amount of used lead-acid batteries recovered is 50%-60% for individual channels, and the recycling of lead batteries with non-standard waste batteries is one of the causes of lead pollution. There are serious batteries in the recycling process, “pour down the acid,” and some of the recycled lead companies do not accept waste lead acid batteries that contain acid. The flow of waste acid is not clear, and lead and acid contamination risks are very high. At present, the sales volume of automotive batteries is estimated at 50 million KVA h, of which 30 million KVA h is rich in liquid, approximately 150,000 tons of lead-containing dilute sulfuric acid, and approximately 42,000 tons of sulfuric acid; in recent years, the dumping of waste lead acid has increased year after year. In 2008, the acid output totaled 99,500 tons, and in 2012 it reached 261,400 tons.

It is understood that, on the one hand, China's waste lead battery recycling industry is in an overall disordered state, waste batteries flow to non-standard lead recycling companies, and on the other hand, companies with formal recycling qualifications are "not enough to eat."

With reference to the relevant information and professional experience, it is estimated that the annual production of waste lead storage batteries in Beijing is about 12 to 150,000 tons/year, and the conservative estimate is no less than 100,000 tons. However, the only ecological island in Beijing with recycling qualification last year recovered only 7,000 tons of lead spent batteries, and the organized recovery rate was less than 10%. The Shanxi Jitianli Technology Co., Ltd. of Shanxi Province Yangmei Group built a 100,000-ton domestic first lead-acid battery clean production closed-cycle industrial chain, but currently it only received 15,000 tons. In Shanghai, the annual production of lead-acid batteries is conservatively estimated at 8.5 to 95,000 tons, and only 0.7 million tons of hazardous wastes are transferred through formal channels each year.

The recovery management of used lead-acid batteries faces four major challenges. “Although lead-acid rechargeable batteries are one of the 49 types of hazardous wastes in the National Hazardous Waste List, there are strict regulations for its recovery, storage and disposal, but in practice, Lack of relevant supporting policies, measures and supervision, and the existence of illegal operations and unregulated competition, said Yang Xiaoming, senior engineer of the Environmental and Economic Policy Research Center of the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Yang Xiaoming and other experts believe that there are four major challenges in the domestic recovery and management of lead batteries.

First, a large number of illegal entities exist in the market, and the main body of qualification recovery lacks price competitive advantage. The data show that in 2009, the output of reclaimed lead was about 1.23 million tons, and 200-300 lead-recycling companies were recycled. The average size of enterprises was only 0.67-0.45 million tons per year. Due to the lack of competitiveness in recycling prices of qualified recycling companies, leading companies and consumers of lead-acid batteries do not have sufficient incentives to participate, and the amount of waste lead-acid batteries recovered by qualified recycling companies is insufficient, which also makes it difficult to reduce the cost of existing models.

Mr. Wan Xuejie, deputy general manager of Shanxi JiTianli, deeply felt. She told reporters that Ji Tianli’s huge investment in waste battery recycling, coupled with the need for recycling companies to pay 17% of the value-added tax, the recovery of waste lead batteries is only less than 4,000 yuan / ton will have a profit, otherwise they will lose money. However, some small smelters are still profitable at a price of 7,000 tons. "There are too many non-standard small smelters. Big investments and revenues are out of proportion. We are faced with a difficult situation," Wan Xuejie said.

Second, there is no normative requirement for the responsibility of producers, sellers, users, and recyclers in the entire system, and it is difficult to establish a formal system. Although there are relevant provisions in the "Circular Economy Promotion Law", as of now, the list of mandatory recycling products or packaging has not yet been issued.

Third, the market access threshold is high. The "Measures for the Administration of the Licenses for the Operation of Hazardous Wastes" and the "Technical Code for Pollution Control of Waste Lead Batteries" stipulate that an entity that has a comprehensive operating permit for hazardous wastes may engage in business activities such as collection, storage and disposal of lead-acid storage batteries. Due to the high application threshold for hazardous waste comprehensive business licenses, it is difficult for many companies or individuals to meet the requirements. Cao Guoqing said that at present there are no more than five companies that have professional qualifications for recycling lead-acid batteries.

On the other hand, units with hazardous waste management qualifications do not have the ability to independently construct a widely used waste lead storage battery recycling network.

Fourth, multi-sector joint supervision is difficult. The recycling of waste lead batteries involves a number of government agencies and it is difficult for the environmental protection departments to achieve them.

Regulations and Economic Incentives are Crucial It is reported that developed countries have established a relatively complete recycling system for used lead-acid batteries. There are three main approaches. First, battery manufacturers are responsible for organizing recycling through their retail networks; and secondly, they are specifically collecting lead according to government regulations. The compulsory alliance of storage batteries and lead-containing waste recycling (including the government's industrial sector, environmental protection departments, and battery production, sales to each stage of the collection, recycling, and secondary recycling of lead) and professional recycling companies; Establish a specific waste lead battery recycling company. The above-mentioned three ways of recycling waste lead batteries are uniformly handled by the formal recycled lead enterprises. At the same time, the government gives regenerated lead enterprises certain waste battery disposal subsidies.

Experts from the Environmental Protection and Environment Policy Research Center of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Natural Resources Protection Association believe that the construction of a waste lead storage battery recycling system is a complex system project involving government, production, recycling and recycling companies and the public and other stakeholders, and it is necessary to construct and improve it. The waste lead storage battery recycling system, combined with international experience, China should proceed from the following aspects:

First, the government departments should increase their efforts to maintain the standardization of recycling legislation and law enforcement. To standardize the responsibilities and obligations of the consumer side in the formal recycling and disposal of spent lead-acid batteries, it should be clear that individual consumers return old lead-acid batteries at the point of sale, and the group’s users should be jointly investigated and dealt with by the public security department in order to illegally sell or illegally handle the waste batteries. Responsibility for pollution; encourage qualified retailers and other collectors to standardize the recovery of waste lead storage batteries from the consumer side, improve the "Administrative Measures for the Administration of Hazardous Wastes", incorporate waste lead batteries into hazardous waste collection permits, and encourage market participants to participate Collect; strengthen the maintenance of legal waste lead storage battery transportation channels, encourage battery manufacturers to establish an effective old and new battery exchange network based on retailers, and combat illegal transport; strengthen the supervision and control of wastewater discharge and disposal companies and encourage equipment Renew and replace pollutant emission standards, and gradually meet international standards to reduce pollutant emissions; Lead-acid batteries will be included in the mandatory recycling product catalog, and manufacturers' producer responsibility extension system will be implemented.

The second is to encourage the industry to establish a standardized recycling chain through economic contracts. There is an economic relationship between battery manufacturers and all participants in the battery recycling field. Cooperation can effectively ensure that the recycling system operates in accordance with the market rules and allows all parties to obtain profitable space. Manufacturers and retailers, manufacturers and smelters can establish cooperation through contracts. At the same time, any effective implementation of incentive mechanisms based on market mechanisms must be based on laws and strict supervision, and be based on the premise of fair competition for enterprises.

“In the framework of good policy guidance and laws and regulations, it is possible to achieve high recycling rates (by using waste batteries),” said a senior lawyer for the Natural Resources Protection Association. “The participation of retailers will promote recycling of waste batteries. Regulations and economic incentives are The key to promoting this participation."

The third is to conduct extensive education and guidance. Such as setting up a sign at a lead-acid battery sales point or issuing a brochure.